Category Archives: Smoke

Fire, Freight trains, Smoke

Sparks from train caused Portland fire near hazardous waste depot

Repost from The Oregonian

Sparks from train caused huge Northwest Portland fire near hazardous waste depot, officials say

By Betsy Hammond, June 29, 2015 at 3:30 PM
Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a three-alarm fire in Northwest Portland, as seen from a bluff on the east side of the Willamette River. This photo was taken at 5:50 p.m. (Photo courtesy of J. Jason Groschopf)

Sparks from a passing freight train caused the huge 30-acre grassland fire along Front Street in industrial Northwest Portland Friday afternoon, fire officials said Saturday.

The blaze, which burned only grass and brush, burned on land adjacent to the Metro Central Transfer Station, which accepts hazardous waste as well as garbage and recycling.

Firefighters warned Metro of the danger that smoke might cause in the area, said Lt. Tommy Schroeder, public information officer for Portland Fire & Rescue.

The fire agency mounted a huge response to the blaze, with more than 70 firefighters and other rescue officials at the scene, Schroeder said. That ensured the Metro hazardous waste depot never posed a serious fire jeopardy, he said.

The site that burned was on the south and east side of the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad track, just after the track crosses the Willamette River, Schroeder said. The fire remained north and west of Northwest Front Avenue.

That land is owned by at least three parties, including the city of Portland, ESCO Corp. and Starlink Logistics, public records indicate.

It is adjacent to Atofina Chemicals, one of the world’s largest chemical companies, which has since been renamed Arkema. The company suspended operations at its Portland plant in 2001.

No one was injured and no structures burned, Schroeder said.

Fire investigators determined the fire started in multiple locations all the same short distance from the railroad tracks, he said. Witnesses also told investigators that they saw the fire start next to the tracks, said Lt. Rich Tyler, another Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman. Those two factors led them to conclude that sparks from the train started the fire.

But Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF in British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, said that workers on the BNSF train that passed through the area saw fire burning in the field far from the tracks and moving toward the track. He said the railroad is continuing to look into what happened.

Tyler said it is unlikely an individual started the fire in the middle of the field because fences and blackberry bushes made it difficult to access.

Schroeder said sparks from passing trains normally cause at least one fire in Portland every year.

Note: An earlier version of this article said, incorrectly, that the land that burned is owned by Atofina Chemicals. That global chemical company in fact owns the adjacent property, between Front Street and the Willamette.
Crude By Rail, Derailment, Explosion, Fire, Rivers, Smoke

LATEST DERAILMENT: Another Ontario derailment and fire, only 23 miles from Feb 14 fire

Repost from CBC News
[Editor: I almost missed this one – who’d have thought there would be a SECOND big accident near Gogama, Ontario in less than a month?!  Interesting interviews with local residents.  See local coverage at Timmins Press.  – RS]

Train carrying crude oil derails near Gogama, Ont.

This is the 4th train derailment in northern Ontario this year

Mar 07, 2015 12:58 PM ET
Gogama derailment cropped
A train carrying crude oil derailed near Gogama, Ont., on Saturday morning, and several cars caught fire. (Ontario Provincial Police)

A train carrying crude oil derailed near Gogama, Ont., on Saturday morning, and several cars caught fire. (Ontario Provincial Police)

Several cars have caught fire after a Canadian National Railway train carrying crude oil derailed in northern Ontario, prompting officials to advise nearby residents to stay indoors and avoid consuming water from local sources.

Ontario Provincial Police were called to the scene at approximately 2:45 a.m. ET. The Transportation Safety Board said 30 to 40 cars derailed four kilometres southwest of Gogama, Ont., and there were no initial reports of injuries

Several cars have caught fire, police said, and others entered the Mattagami River System.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation and the Ministry of Environment has been notified.

Residents of Mattagami First Nation are being advised not to consume water from the community source for the time being. Residents of Gogama and Mattagami First Nation are being asked to stay inside until further notice due to possible smoke inhalation.

CN Rail said emergency crews are conducting a full site assessment and activating the emergency response plan with local officials.

The owner of the Gogama Village Inn said she is thankful the winds are blowing in a different direction. She said she fears smoke from the fire could force the town to be evacuated.

Derailment not far from inn

Roxanne Veronneau said the site of the derailment is approximately two kilometres from her Inn.

“I look out my window here at the Inn and all I see is the smoke in the distance. I could see it at four o’clock in the morning. It makes you feel rather uncomfortable knowing that wow, hopefully there is not going to be a next time and that our town will be safe. But when you see like, 100 cars, I don’t know, 70 cars of crude oil coming right down the middle of your town, the thought crosses your mind when you see what’s happened in Quebec.”

Veronneau said her Inn was already full of workers who were dealing with the cleanup of the derailment that happened last month. “Once again the town is crawling with transports and machinery trying to get it under control.”

The town has come together to help, said Veronneau. She said she’s been coordinating to get anything workers need.

“One guy went and brought life jackets and paddles,” she said. “He came back to get ice augers, our snow machines. We are helping, doing whatever it takes to get this under control.”

Local MPP heads to site

NDP MPP for the region France Gélinas said she was travelling to the site after speaking to members of the local services board and residents of Gogama.

“They are courageous and scared,” said Gélinas. “This is the second derailment near their town and this one is very close. People can talk pictures of the black smoke from their homes.”

Natalie Gaudette with the local services board said there is no immediate danger to residents and CN officials are on site doing air quality tests.

Highway 144 at Highway 661 at the Watershed is closed, as is Highway 101 at Highway 144. There is access to communities north of Gogama by way of the Cache.

This is the fourth CN Rail derailment in northern Ontario this year.

A train derailed last month, spilling crude oil and forcing the closure of the rail line.

Bakken Shale, Crude By Rail, Emergency Readiness & Response, Evacuation, Explosion, Fire, Smoke

King Co., Washington worriedly preps for oil train fire

Repost from Crosscut – News of the Great Nearby, Seattle, WA
[Editor: – Emergency training is going on all across North America.  Two examples: see Missouri firefighters train to handle fires, and Norfolk Southern Brings 40 Emergency Responders from Nine States to World-class Training Center for Crude-by-Rail Safety Class, not including California.  Where are the stories about training of Northern California emergency responders?  – RS]

King County worriedly preps for oil train fire

Executive Dow Constantine says a training exercise helps but the region needs a reduction or elimination of the dangerous trains.
August 7, 2014
Tank cars hours after they derailed under the Magnolia Bridge in Interbay.
Tank cars hours after they derailed under the Magnolia Bridge in Interbay. Bill Lucia

Five rail cars carrying petroleum crude oil derail and catch fire near Boeing Field, about five miles south of downtown Seattle. That was the scenario during a tabletop exercise King County held Tuesday.

The planning exercise took place less than two weeks after three tank cars carrying highly flammable crude oil from North Dakota derailed in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood. That incident was relatively benign. None of the cars leaked or caught fire. The mock scenario discussed on Tuesday was designed to be far more precarious.

“This is an emerging public safety threat,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine at a press conference on Wednesday. “And we need to have our emergency preparedness folks really up to speed on it and well-coordinated. And that’s what yesterday’s exercise was all about.”

The exercise highlighted some of the complications responders might face when dealing with burning tank cars of crude oil, such as monitoring toxic smoke, transporting evacuated people and delivering information to the public.

Between eight and 13 trains operated by BNSF Railway Co. pass through King County each week carrying crude oil, according to information the railroad released in June to the Washington Military Department.

A local fire chief involved in the exercise acknowledged on Wednesday that responders would most likely have to let some of the fuel burn off if one of those trains crashed and five tank cars were ablaze.

The cars commonly used to transport petroleum crude oil have a capacity of about 30,000 gallons apiece. In past wrecks, un-breached cars, heated by surrounding flames, have ruptured in dramatic explosions.

“We’ll want to probably suppress the fire enough to assess the integrity and exposure to the other tank cars. We’d certainly want to minimize life risks,” said Mark Chubb, Fire Chief of King County Fire District 20.

“It’s unusual for all five tank cars to breach,” he also said.

Battling flames would not be the only problem that burning tank cars of crude oil would present for responders.

“We have to be mindful of the impact of the smoke column on aviation,” Chubb said. He also noted that a large oil train fire could create problems on Interstate 5, even if the smoke and flames do not reach the highway. “The distraction of an event of this scale,” he said, “is going to be highly disruptive.”

Chubb added: “After you grapple with the fact that it’s a fire and it’s going to go on a while, it’s all about logistics.”

Walt Hubbard, director the King County Office of Emergency Management, viewed Tuesday’s exercise as helpful, because it got people from different agencies together in the same place, talking about how they would coordinate and communicate if there were a serious crude oil train accident.

In addition to emergency responders, staff from local transportation and public health departments attended, as did officials from federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Representatives from BNSF were also on hand. The company operated the train that derailed in Interbay.

For Hubbard, having the railroad representatives at the exercise was important.

“We want to keep them engaged,” he said. Hubbard specifically pointed to dialogue that took place between BNSF representatives and fire officials about what kinds of equipment and people the railroad could deploy after an accident.

“That was a very good exchange,” he said.

Another topic that came up during the exercise was evacuations. If a rail car of crude oil is on fire, U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines recommend that responders consider evacuating people within a half-mile of the accident scene.

The risk of an explosion would be one immediate reason to evacuate the area around the fire. But Chubb, the King County fire chief, also noted that toxic smoke is a hazard, and said that responders would consult with officials from public health agencies and the EPA when considering whether to tell people to leave the area.